Freds hot rod shop #oldfartplaying

08/07/2026

Decided to post this for the mostly inexperienced folks trying to get into the hobby. My Chevy dually was up for an oil change as it is about to make a couple of trips so I want to share some ideas. Truck had 190,000 miles on it and oil is changed every 5 to 7000 without fail. I normally use Pennzoil but finding that in 10 w30 is about as hard as finding a honest politician so my backup is Valvoline. We run Valvoline VR 1 in our race cars so I trust it. As I said the truck calls for 10 w30 but in the summer with the extra heat and towing trailers I switch to 10 w 40 for a little extra protection. A bottle of Lucas oil additive goes in EVERY vehicle except the wife's brand new Mustang. Finally, oil filters; I use WIX exclusively and won't put a Frame on anything I own including my lawn mower! Check YouTube for oil filter tests to see why. Good maintenance goes a long way! Get to work.

08/07/2026

This was actually created 3 weeks ago but I forgot to post before the wife dragged me all over Europe! Sorry for the delay.

06/12/2026

03/26/2026

Some thoughts on body work; while I was preparing Wades 55 street gasser for paint stress cracks in the old body repairs were evident. If you are new to the old car hobby and looking to buy a car already finished it pays to take someone with bodywork experience with you. I knew this car had a lot of Bondo in the quarter panels when I first saw it but hoped it would last for a little while -- it didn't! Whoever did the work put the plastic filler over rusty metal which I had to grind out and repair. For filler I used the Bondo with fiberglass mixed in for extra strength. If Wade keeps this car instead of selling/trading like he usually does I will eventually install new quarter panels and fix this mess permanently. We knew this car would need work but the price was too good to turn down even with the blemishes. It's getting better.

03/26/2026

Not white anymore !

03/26/2026

Finally getting some posting done. As you can see the 55 gasser isn't white anymore. We've been struggling somewhat with the new fuel injection setup getting the tuning done and I'm still not happy with it. The system itself is nice but the car has a fairly radical cam, is a 4 speed manual trans, and I'm not the most computer savy guy on the planet. I may end up putting the carburator back on until I get everything figured out that way Wade can put some miles on the car. Cowl hood is back on for now while I hammer and dolly the hundred or so high spots out of the stock hood. This car had a lot of poor bodywork hidden under the white paint and while not perfect it's much better than before.

01/24/2026

Did a little dressup on the 55 with gold Moroso valve covers, breathers, and fasteners. These things are getting hard to find in good condition and it took Wade and I some time tracking it down but worth it for the period effect. Got a surprise when changing the covers as we found the motor has a set of budget roller rockers! Battery about to head to the trunk next!

01/20/2026

Guick road test. This system self learns so the more you drive the better baseline it constructs. As I said before I installed this kit in the driveway and the most elaborate tools used were a voltage test light and a 3/8 drill. This does not include the bungalow welded into the exhaust for the o2 sensor but if you do not have a welder any muffler shop could weld it in with about 5 minutes work. Any questions send me a message and I will try to answer.

01/20/2026

Finally around to a little update. It's not easy being old and slow!